How Miranda Got her Groove back
Chapter 3 Recovery
A year and a half later. Miranda and Clive are still together. They still like each other and Miranda is beginning to understand and appreciate Clive's traveling. His being gone leaves space enough in the relationship to where they are not suffocating each other. Introverted Miranda needed "alone time" in a relationship. Clive's travels provided it. Also, Clive's mother Judy kept in touch. She saw that Miranda needed an older woman to talk to and she enjoyed talking with her. Once or twice a week they talked, Judy got information about Clive and Miranda got Judy's perspective if she needed it. On the surface, it all seemed much the same.
Except it wasn't. Miranda had grown emotionally. She was still introverted but she would come out of her shell more often. Max found her a better partner. Their friendship had grown and with her advice he finally got Carmen to say yes to marriage. Other detectives also grew to like her and would drop by their desks just to chat. Inez too noticed and began to assign them to more important cases. She was also nicer to Miranda. They would never be best friends but getting along really helped. Miranda became devastating in the interrogation room. With her non-threatening looks a smile and a clever mind, she would usually get a confession.
One morning Ines came by the desk as they were starting. "I have a case for you two. Come to my office."
They followed her. Once the door was closed Ines asked "Have you heard of ransomware?" They nodded. "We believe there is a money-laundering operation on this island. Processing payments for them."
Max interrupted "Makes sense if you are a criminal and can work anywhere why not Mallorca."
Ines gave him a dirty look "That is not the image we wish to portray. Find them and arrest them."
They left the office with a folder and as they walked back to their desks Miranda shook her head. Max asked, "What now?"
"Max will you ever stop spouting rubbish?" asked Miranda
"If I did you would have nothing to complain about," replied Max
Miranda shook her head, "Even so I doubt the tourism board is ever going to have an ad that says; Come to Mallorca. It's a great place to be a criminal."
Max replied. "It's a great place to be anything, even a police officer. Just like Clive, all they need is an internet connection and they can work. So why not here. Let's watch for that."
Miranda thought for a moment "Speaking of Clive I'm going to call him and see what he knows about Bit-coin."
That night Clive met them at the bar. They got a table and ordered drinks.
Clive opened up with "Well I'm glad you weren't talking about putting our retirement in Bit-coin."
"Not today," replied Miranda.
"But what is Bit-coin?" asked Max
"It's a digital currency," replied Clive
"You can buy things with it and it is anonymous allowing you to send money in secret."
Max thought for a second and replied, "That explains why crooks like it."
Miranda broke in "But how does it work."
Clive smiled, "The simple version is this. You buy or more rarely earn some Bit-coin. Then exchange that value with another user for something. Just like cash or a credit card."
"Ok well can you hack this to track them?" asked Max
Clive shook his head "Not too likely. Those TV shows where the computer wizard guesses the password in a few minutes are considered comedy to professionals."
"So how do we catch them?" asked Miranda
"Generally through mistakes they make." replied Clive "Generally if they are doing major work there will be some problems. You just have to spot them."
"Ok, that at least is standard procedure," said Max.
So the investigation went on. Miranda with a little help from Clive began to build logs and do a lot of chasing. She was also getting in touch with security professionals and building up her knowledge. As expected she mostly wound up at dead ends. But she kept on knowing that sooner or later mistakes would be made.
This went on for a few months and finally Max as he was watching her work said. "Why don't we try something else?"
Miranda looked up and replied, "What are you thinking?"
Max continued, "Let's get the surveillance footage from ATMs and exchanges then we can see if there are repeat customers."
"Max there are hundreds of ATMs in Parma."
Max interrupted "We only need the ones for Bit-coin or other cryptocurrencies. Then you look at numbers and I look at pictures. Perhaps it helps."
"Most likely you will be just looking at the pretty girls," said Miranda
"It's my bonus." shot back Max with a smile. They took the idea to Ines and she liked it. So they just kept at it. Max was looking at camera footage and Miranda numbers.
Months of looking later Max said, "Miranda come here, I think we have a suspect."
Miranda walked over to his desk and saw a picture of a girl in sunglasses at an ATM. "I call her sun-glass girl she comes once a month with different wigs and to different ATMs and makes a withdrawal. Doesn't come often and disguises herself."
"Do you have dates and times?" Asked Miranda
"Of course here they are," replied Max
Miranda took the information and went to work. "Ahh, Max they are making a rather large withdrawal as if they were doing monthly expenses."
"Makes sense" replied Max "Don't go too often. They are smart."
They set to work and over the next two months, they were able to tighten the noose. They also found where they bought sim cards and went to the store to see if they could get some information. As they were walking out they saw her. Miranda went after her and caught her.
Max caught up and said, "Hello sun-glass girl." They brought her in and booked her.
Ines asked, "What do you intend to do?"
Miranda replied I'll talk to her and see what we can find out."
She walked into the interrogation room looking at the young girl. "Maria we have you for money laundering. You are looking at a lot of years in prison. Time to help yourself out."
"I don't know what you are talking about I was just helping my boyfriend." the girl said.
Miranda slapped down a piece of paper, "Maria we have the evidence, I can prove you guilty we have your last six months of withdrawals. But I also want to truly find out the circumstances. Most people don't decide that they want to be a criminal."
Miranda paused while the girl thought. She tried a brave play it would either work or not.
Finally, she responded "Anton told me that he had a new job as a cyber currency consultant. We could live anywhere so why not Mallorca. I loved him and he always had money so why not. I never knew."
"Could you tell me more about it?" Asked Miranda
"Well it was great I took money out every month and paid our expenses. We lived and went to the beach it was great."
"Ok but why did you use disguises when drawing out money?" asked Miranda
Maria got emotional "It was Anton. He got so paranoid, it was getting weird he said some money came up missing and people were very angry at him. He was afraid he went to a hideout he told me to get new sim cards and phones and then meet him there."
"Where were you to meet him?" asked Miranda
Maria shook her head, "I can't tell you he is totally paranoid he said they are trying to kill him. I don't know if it's real or not but he believes it."
"That must be upsetting if you love him," said Miranda
Maria replied, "It is not knowing is the worst."
Miranda nodded "I understand I almost lost my boyfriend in a plane crash last year."
Maria nodded and said "So you do understand. But what can I do? He's in danger or at least thinks he is."
Miranda answered, "We can't protect him if we don't know where he is."
Maria sobbed and replied, "But what can I do?"
Miranda was direct, "Tell us where he is and we can protect him. Otherwise, all you can do is hope he survives."
Maria started sobbing. Then she gave the address. Miranda and Max went with a team to do the arrest.
They went out and made the arrest. Anton tried to run but they caught him. As Maria said he was extremely paranoid and afraid that a man was going to kill him. Just as they were walking him out they heard the word "GUN!"
Miranda instantly tackled the suspect. She shielded him with her body.
Max pulled his gun and saw a man on a motorcycle with a pistol in his hand. He fired once hitting the man. The man went down and Max sprung into action. As the gunman was reaching for his pistol he saw Max with his own pistol aimed at him. Max said, "Don't try it."
Another officer kicked the gun out of reach. They took the gunman into custody as well. The gunman went to the hospital and Anton went to the station.
Miranda went in and told Maria that Anton was safe. She asked if she could see him. "It's a bit of a difficult request but I will try," responded Miranda
She talked to Ines and she said, "Ok but no contact."
So they brought them into an interview room. Maria looked at Anton and said "They saved your life. Either you tell them everything or I will." Anton just hung his head.
Later Miranda and Max went in and interviewed Anton. "Have you thought about what happened?"
Anton said, "I can't tell you they will kill me."
Miranda said "They tried and we protected you, Anton. It's time to come clean so that we can continue to protect you."
"Or you can take your chances with no money and a lot of angry people," added Max.
Anton thought for a few seconds. "You did save my life. Ok, I will trust you." He then began to tell them everything.
The next few days were very busy. They found a lot of information and they were coordinating with Interpol and other agencies to arrest people and take down servers. Also, they were able to seize some of the ransom money and return it. They had managed to break up a huge international money laundering operation. The details would have overwhelmed most but Miranda mastered the details and made it look effortless. Though she was glad Clive was out of town. She was just too busy for him at the moment. It was perhaps the biggest case ever for their small department. Almost as an afterthought, they had a hired killer as well and they worked on him to expose the island's organized crime. It was an amazing and busy time.
When the busts ended Ines talked to the team. Thank you for all your efforts. Tonight let's go to Joan's the first round is mine. They went out and enjoyed the first round.
Inez came up to Miranda. "Detective Blake I have never seen better work. You did very well indeed. The empathy and understanding you showed were amazing."
"Thank you Ma'am" replied Miranda "That means a lot."
"You earned it," replied Ines. "Now I better leave before I see too much and have to write up some people."
She left. Miranda just sat there with Max enjoying the glow of success.
Ines too was enjoying the glow. She got in her car and told her driver to take her home. As she rode home she thought about Blake and Winter. Winter would stay for as long as he could, he loved Mallorca and had a local girl. She really didn't worry about him. But she worried a lot about Blake, Blake had healed. Her flawed but brilliant detective had lost the flawed part completely. She was surprised the British let her stay instead of using her considerable talents in London. But she wasn't about to encourage them to take her best detective back. Blake could stay as long as she liked. But she also knew that Blake was no fool. She had to know that promotions and raises were not coming her way in Mallorca. The future could be troubling. But at least for today, it was a good day. Ines learned long ago to enjoy the good days. They were far too rare in police work. Tonight she would go home, uncork a good bottle of wine and toast the department's success.
The End